Spotwave Wireless, a six-year-old Canadian startup whose technology sought to improve cellphone reception inside high-rises and other large buildings such as hospitals, has been placed into receivership after using up an estimated $36 million in venture capital.
The Ottawa-based company, which employs 70 people, closed down abruptly last December, according to news reports, and hasn't offered any public comments since then. A Toronto insolvency trustee has been appointed to close up the company's operations.
The company was founded in 2001, turning "smart antenna" technology into a line of SpotCell hardware that was marketed in Canada, the United States and China. The firm received backing from Dow Corporate Venture Capital, Motorola, Newbury Ventures, VenGrowth Private Equity Partners, Primaxis Technology Ventures, Skypoint Capital, VentureLink Fund, The GrowthWorks Canadian Fund and RBQ, Ltd. and had obtained $12.5 million in financing as late as last year.
The company hired former Intrado COO Lawrence Jennings as its CEO in November 2006. In April 2007, former Alcatel-Lucent senior executive Colin Perry was brought on as vice president of operations and former Intrado and Gartner executive David Whitten was named vice president of marketing.